Archive for May 27th, 2008
China and the Olympics – Debate Series, The Economist
From a Media Release sent to me today:
The Economist will kick-off a two-week, online debate on the Olympics in Beijing. With all of the controversy ranging from China’s policies on Darfur and Tibet to athletes concerned about Beijing’s air pollution, we’d like to hear yourThis house believes it was a mistake to award the Olympics to Beijing. Do you think that awarding the games to Beijing will help or harm the relevance and prestige of the Olympics? thoughts and invite you to voice your opinion. The proposition states:
Daniel Franklin, executive editor of The Economist, will moderate the debate between Gordon Chang author of The Coming Collapse of China (2001) and Charles Freeman, Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). In addition to the two debaters, the following expert Guest Participants will lend insightful commentary to the lively discussion.
- Victor Cha, Director of the Asian Studies program at Georgetown University, former Director for Asian Affairs in the White House National Security Council
- Alfred Senn, professor emeritus of history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and author of Power, Politics and the Olympic Games
- Daoud Hari, Darfurian tribesman and translator for major news organizations including The New York Times, NBC, and BBC, as well as the United Nations. Author of The Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur
- Cheng Li, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center in Washington, DC
We invite you and your readers to check out the debate. It is certain to be lively and contentious, and it’s free to vote and comment — just register for a complimentary pen name. Please let me know if you have any questions.
If you prefer to follow the debate on Facebook you may do so here.
You will have to register and then sign up for a forum pen name, takes a few seconds, and is free.
Darfur Now Available on DVD
If Not Now, Then When?
Joey Cheek’s Essay in WAPO.
My New Olympic Dream
Some say now is not the time. If not now then when?
With China feeling the pain of their great loss of human life, and with the world suffering with them, surely the pain of others, those who are DYING IN DARFUR, can be understood. Maybe with greater clarity than before.
